I know that I can never get enough of Route 66. I look at travelers’ photos of the same old neon signs from the same angle and never think how many time will this same photo be shot. Why do I continue to read blog post and articles about motels and roadside attractions that I am very familiar with? Why do I return to the same towns that have very little in them to wake up in a room that is not modern to have to travel five hours back home? I know it is a passion, but what drives it? I have no idea where it came from but I know it has been in me for a long time.
My first trip along Route 66 came the summer after my twenty-first birthday. I had a job and just bought a new car. I felt like I was on top of the world. I had always wanted to go to Las Vegas and now I had my chance. With a little money took off headed west toward the promise land. I made so many mistake the first trip. Only in hindsight can I see how huge my mistakes were. Many of the things I overlooked or passed by are no longer there to be seen.
Mistake #1
I left from North Texas on a Tuesday afternoon. Yes, I remember this day because I was only able to take three day and one-half days off of work. I had studied the map and decided I would leave and travel west to Lubbock, Texas. From there I would make my way northwest up and connect with I-40 at Santa Rosa, New Mexico. This was a real dumb move. I missed so, so much not connecting with I-40 at Amarillo, Texas.
Mistake #2
I could have and should have stayed in one of the great Route 66 town of New Mexico, but no I stayed at a random motel in Albuquerque. Again, I was just a kid that was clueless about what he was missing. I will say that this was before the internet so the access to information was a little harder to come by. This might be the reason that I took that weird route I was doing all my planning off an old-school road map.
Mistake #3
I spent a huge amount of time at the painted desert. I pulled in off the interstate and had no idea how long the journey into this amazing park would last. Park, drive. Park, drive. Over and over. I have revisited this area a number of times since my first experience, but I could have been in Holbrook, AZ eating enchiladas at Joe and Aggies. At twenty-one I would have probably passed on that cafe and gone to Taco Bell. Man I was dumb.
Mistake #4
Drove the long route up to Peach Springs. Now, was that a pretty cool move for a kid to make that long curve off the interstate into the wilds of northern Arizona – Yes. Did I stop when I finally got to the town – No. What was wrong with me. And of course that night I stayed at some kinda SleepInn in Kingman.
Mistake #5
Well this mistake happened in Las Vegas. Now this was the early 1990’s and the Strip was nothing like it is today. The classics were still there. The casinos that made the town still stood. The marques that announced the greats still presented the talent with twinkling lights. I has two nights reserved at the MGM Grand on what is now my least favorite part of the Strip. I visited all the casinos on that crossroads and never ventured beyond Cesars Palace. Now I do kick myself for that one. The next time I was in Vegas was 1999 to get married and of course, by then most of the greats were gone.
Mistake #6
Drove really fast to get back home.
Enoughwritten was intended to be a place to document more of these quick journeys up to the Mother Road. I know that most of what I see and do has been seen and done by thousand of Route 66 travelers. If you are similar to me, you wont mind seeing it again. So mixed within the random rant and poems will hopefully be some quality information about our favorite passion – Route 66.
Tab across Texas 